The Bartimaeus Trilogy / Characters

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The leads

Bartimaeus

Bartimaeus of Uruk

His chapters are always written in first person. Bartimaeus is a fourth (or fourteenth) level and ancient djinni, summoned in the trilogy by Nathaniel.

Badass Normal: Compared to other djinn, Bartimaeus only has an average level of power. He's taken on far, far greater foes than himself with cunning and wit and lived to tell the tale.
Been There, Shaped History: He often talks about past historical events he had a hand in. Some of them are difficult to believe, but djinn being very ancient, so it's possible and even probable that he did participate in most of those historic events he brags about.
Boisterous Weakling: Downplayed. While not by any means a weakling (he is about mid-level in power as far as spirits go), to hear him talk sometimes, you'd think he's the top of the top. He willingly beats up on weaker spirits, but is very much aware of when things are stronger than him. It could be justified by the fact that, according to him recalling his first summonings, spirits are more powerful at their primes and only decay while they are summoned over time (which makes sense considering that merely being in the physical world causes them pain).
Combat Pragmatist: Although he is about as powerful as his level implies, he often encounters beings more powerful than him and usually avoids direct fighting, and has defeated at least two afrits via cheating and using the surrounding environment to his advantage.
The Cynic: His millennia of enslavement have left him angry, bitter and cynical, although it turns out not so much as some of his colleagues.
Deadpan Snarker: Virtually any situation, no matter how horrible or urgent, meets with mockery.
Easily Forgiven: He accidentally kickstarted the chain of events that ended with Ptolemy dead by failing to contain a Smug Smile in front of the pharaoh, but Ptolemy never brought it up to him. Notably, Bartimaeus himself doesn't either and may have genuinely never realized.
Failure Knight: He continues to take Ptolemy's form centuries after his death. He has come to believe Ptolemy's ideals were honorable but impossible to realize.
First-Person Smartass: When he's narrating, Bartimaeus focuses on self-congratulatory remarks and snarky personal remarks about the other characters: time permitting, he'll also tell the story.
Guile Hero: While his power is only middling, his intelligence and problem-solving skills are top-tier. It's to the point that after going through several other demons, Nathaniel eventually winds up summoning Bartimaeus again, despite how annoying he can get and despite his knowing Nathaniel's true name (a huge no no in summoning), purely because he is that damn clever and useful.
Incoming Ham: He does love a dramatic entrance. He takes a lot of criticism about it.
Indy Ploy: He tends to respond to difficult situations by doing something ridiculous.
Jackass Genie: He has no pity at all toward a summoner who doesn't make his instructions perfectly clear. Although he isn't as bad as some other spirits, who seek to kill as many humans as possible and will take any chances to do so - while he'll kill any magician without a second thought, he has no particular desire to hurt commoners.
Jade-Colored Glasses: His enslavement at the hands of countless magicians changed him into a cynic fairly fast.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He claims to hate humans, but he's not without sympathy toward them, and doesn't believe the human world is devoid of wonder. Also, he doesn't have any hatred towards commoners, and only hates magicians for enslaving him and other spirits.
Know When to Fold 'Em: A large part of how Bartimaeus has survived as long as he has. For all his bragging, he's not afraid to admit when a situation is too much for him to handle.
Large Ham: Even his Inner Monologue sounds hammy.
Lemony Narrator: He has a very colorful, sarcastic narrative and often exaggerates or bends the truth to make himself look better.
Let's Get Dangerous!: He's a higher djinni, a spirit with an average amount of power at his disposal. Despite this, he's extremely capable in tricky situations, even though he generally tries to avoid getting into them. As Jessica Whitwell notes after Bartimaeus is dug out of the ruins of the British Museum, he survived the Golem and was able to provide a detailed report on it, which is considerably more than any other spirit has managed.
Literal Djinni: Most spirits obey the spirit as well as the letter of their commands (unless they can interpret the loose wording as permission to kill the summoner). Bartimaeus is unusual - considered "troublesome".
Restored My Faith in Humanity: When Kitty proves her trust by coming over to the Other Place, he chooses to help them stop the spirit rebellion even though it would be incredibly dangerous. This was further strengthened after Nathaniel released Bartimaeus during their battle with Nouda, allowing Bartimaeus to survive even when he was fully prepared to sacrifice himself alongside Nathaniel.
Self-Serving Memory: His memories tend to paint him in a good light, with the sole exception of the death of Ptolemy.
Servile Snarker: More than possibly any other spirit in the series, is Bartimaeus's tendency to mouth off to his masters for their appearances, personalities, morality (or lackthereof) and really anything he can possibly use as ammunition to verbally abuse them. While part of it is a practical attempt to break his summoner's concentration and give him an opening, it's clear that he derives a lot of genuine glee in just watching his masters squirm, even if it usually results in him getting hit with a punishment spell.
Bartimaeus: Surely you haven’t forgotten! You summon me, the back-chat comes free. It's part of the package.
Smug Snake: He's an anti-hero for whom smugness is a primary characteristic. Most of his accomplishments are either exaggerated or through pure luck... although he can pull off some genuinely amazing things when he gets down to brass tacks.
The So-Called Coward: Countless people think he's a Dirty Coward, and even he thinks of himself as craven in his more self-loathing moments. But when push comes to shove, he's entirely willing to put himself in harm's way and take on very dangerous opponents.
Sophisticated as Hell: His narration style usually fluctuates between amusingly colloquial and smartly analytical.
Undying Loyalty: To Ptolemy. He was willing to die for him and still wears his form in the present day. This later extends to Kitty as well after she risks her life going to the spirit realm to contact him.
Unreliable Narrator:
- While he was genuinely involved in any number of historic events and has many legitimate feats to his name, a good number of his past "accomplishments" are exaggerated, made up, or technically true but far less impressive in context (his "speaking with Solomon" was brief and consisted mainly of pathetic grovelling on his part, for example.)
- A notable example occurs near the climax of the first book: Bartimaeus describes himself as remaining calm and composed despite the dire situation. Immediately afterwards at the start of the next chapter, Nathaniel's third person perspective describes him as visibly panicking.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Grows into this with Nathaniel. Well, sort of. Best Buds is a little generous considering he's more or less a slave.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Seems to take pride in all the different people, animals and monsters he can turn into, often describing all the little details about his current form, while mocking other spirits that only take one form for centuries for their lack of creativity.

Nathaniel

Nathaniel/John Mandrake

The series' closest to a human protagonist. At the start of the series, he is an ambitious and talented magician-in-training.

Ambiguous Situation: He never left a body behind. While it's very likely he died and his body was vaporized in the appropriately massive explosion, the author said he liked the fan theory of Nathaniel's soul having been dragged back to the spirit world with Bartimaeus when he freed him and ultimately said it would have to be up to fans to interpret.
Ambition Is Evil: He's determined to claw his way into the upper echelons of the government. At first he's just doing it to protect himself, but he gains a taste for power, and his standards start to slip.
Antiquated Linguistics: In the first book, he sometimes talks to Bartimaeus in Flowery Elizabethan English. Justified, as he taught himself how to summon and control demons from reading old texts.
The Apprentice: All his mentors are perfectly happy to discard him to save their own careers.
Because You Were Nice to Me: He reacts very badly when someone who's been kind to him is hurt or mistreated.
Character Development: Goes from Wide-Eyed Idealist to Anti-Villain Knight Templar to finally Messianic Archetype.
Child Prodigy: Although no one gave him any attention for it, even his own master.
Friendless Background: He has no friends growing up, as kids his own age avoid him. His teachers are either cruel or indifferent, except for Ms. Lutyens... and then Underwood fires her.
Heel Realization: Has an extended one over the course of Book 3.
Heroic Sacrifice: After his Heel Realization, he lays down his life in order to save Britain and the rest of the world from an invasion of demons.
Improbable Age: He's accepted into the lowest levels of Government at fourteen, and by nineteen he is one of the prime minister's chiefs of staff. Justified because this seems to be a custom in the setting.
The Kid with the Leash: He serves as one to Bartimaeus in the first book, as Bartimaeus must obey his commands or get stuck in an iron tin at the bottom of the Thames forever.
Loners Are Freaks: As a child, once the other children recognized him as an apprentice magician. His lack of friends has a significant impact on his development - after Lovelace humiliates him and Ms. Lutyens is fired, Nathaniel doesn't have an outlet, so he becomes obsessed with revenge.
Parental Abandonment: While his biological parents are only mentioned very briefly at the beginning of the series, they did give up their child for money.
Shrinking Violet: His flashbacks in the first book show that he used to be this. He was too shy to even try to talk to other kids. He gets over it after meeting Lovelace, but adopts this as a mask in public, so that Underwood and other magicians won't realize what he's capable of.
Smug Snake: A rare protagonist example. In the second book he tries to come off as unflappable and stylish, but he's pretty much as slimy as every other government magician. He gets better in the third book.
Teen Genius: He's a better magician than most grown men.
Tranquil Fury: After Lovelace brutalizes him, he doesn't visibly snap, but becomes extremely bitter and vengeance-obsessed. He's in this state for the rest of his life, deceptively calm on the surface, but bubbling with rage underneath.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Until certain events embittered him to the world. Like Ms. Lutyens getting sacked and Mrs. Underwood's death.
Villain Protagonist: For most of the series, he's a proud and willing participant of a magician-run police state that derives its power from propaganda, slave labor, and fear. Even at a young age, he's more than willing to severely punish any djinn he summons for even the slightest inconvenience. He eventually gets better, but it takes a good long while.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Kind of with Bartimaeus. Despite their constant bickering, he does grow to respect and rely on him a lot.

Kitty

Kitty Jones

She is a commoner who later joins the the Resistance to fight the injustices of the magicians.

Action Girl: Was a very active member of the Resistance.
Anti-Magic: Is resistant to low levels of magic, including low-level demons.
Badass Normal: Exploited her Anti-Magic to fight off magical attacks and some demons. She also manages to summon Bartimaeus, despite not being a trained magician.
Black-and-White Morality: Her background instigates on her the belief that all magicians are evil, and the setting doesn't help very much with this. Grows out of it later.
Cassandra Truth: Her immunity to low level magic bites her in the rear when she tries to sue Julius Tallow for having attacked her and her friend Jakob as children. Tallow simply says her lack of damage is proof she's lying, and the court, seemingly unaware that this kind of immunity exists, obviously believes him.
Hypocrite: Accuses the magicians of making commoner's lives miserable, but when it's pointed out that her own actions were basically terrorism and killed and maimed a lot of innocent people, she retorts it's not the same because she did it for her ideals.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Her name is legally "Kathleen Jones," but this is almost never used.
Only Sane Man: When the Resistance breaks into Gladstone's tomb in The Golem's Eye, she's the only one to sound a note of caution from the start. When they discover six dead bodies in the tomb, she rightly advises that they get out sharpish as there's obviously some trap going on they don't know about. While some are a bit willing to listen at first, they are quickly overcome by greed and her objections are shot down.
Power of Trust: It's her trust in Bartimaeus that ultimately proves to be pivotal in stopping the spirit rebellion in the last book.
Tsundere: A classic Type A.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Before she and Jakob got attacked.
Younger Than They Look: After she gets back from the Other Place.

Asmira

The captain of the guard of Queen Balkis of Sheba who was ordered to assassinate King Solomon.

Action Girl: Her training focused on bodyguard work: she's sent to Solomon's court as an assassin. If she weren't fixated on Undying Loyalty, she might have wondered about that.
Amazon Brigade: A ridiculously loyal member of it, until the last third of The Ring of Solomon, anyway...
Expy: Of Kitty in several ways.
Unwitting Pawn: Balthis, Queen of Sheba, sends Asmira on a Suicide Mission. She goes willingly, but she's not pleased when she learns that she was sent on false pretenses.

Spirits

Faquarl

Faquarl of Sparta

A powerful djinni who shares a long and contentious history with Bartimaeus. The two have been enemies for centuries and having opposing masters means they're put into conflict repeatedly.

Affably Evil: Generally polite and cordial, even to his enemies.
Alas, Poor Villain: Right before Nathaniel and Bartimaeus kill him, Faquarl implies he would have completely changed his mindset had he known that a partnership like theirs was even possible, and it's hinted he lets them do the kill out of sheer Despair Event Horizon.
Ambiguous Situation: Bartimaeus is ultimately unsure whether Faquarl voluntarily allowed them to shoot him, unable to stand his existence anymore after learning his crusade was for nothing, or whether they just hit him very hard previously and stunned him. It's also possible both are true and Faquarl was just too broken to react in time to their attack.
Archenemy: Faquarl has the best claim to being Bartimaeus's archnemesis. Both of them despise one another and they've clashed multiple times over the centuries. Even when they're forced to work together under a common master, they can't stand each other.
Been There, Shaped History: He claims to have invented the Trojan Horse. Bartimaeus is skeptical but can't prove anything, as he was in Egypt at the time.
Big Bad: Arguably, he's the true Big Bad of Ptolemy's Gate. Even though he serves Nouda, who eclipses him in terms of raw power and who's the Final Boss of the series, Faqual is the true mastermind of the Spirit Rebellion, and he manipulated both Nouda and Makepeace to get what he wanted.
Chef of Iron: He's fond of taking the form of a meat-cleaver wielding chef, and has been hanging around kitchens since 700 BC. "Lots of nice sharp weapons in kitchens."
Chubby Chef: His preferred human disguise.
The Chessmaster: Played Makepeace like a fiddle, and may have been doing the same to Nouda.
Chessmaster Sidekick: To both Makepeace and Nouda.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Gives one to four spirits who technically were at his level, although to be completely fair they were all tired and wounded at the time, and due to the unique circumstance, Faquarl had some serious advantage and surprise on his side.
The Dragon: To Simon Lovelace, and later to Quentin Makepeace and Nouda.
Dragon-in-Chief: He may be much weaker than Nouda (pretty much everybody is), but Faquarl is the one who does most of the plotting for the spirit rebellion.
Dramatically Missing the Point: When he states he made revenge against humans his purpose, Bartimaeus points to him that "purpose" is a human concept. Faquarl is momentarily stunned, and even although he recovers, he cannot refute Bartimaeus' note that for all of his hatred of humans, Faquarl has become just like them.
Driven to Suicide: Right after killing Faquarl, Bartimaeus ponders that Faquarl could have perfectly stopped them. Faquarl's last line, stating it's just too late for him, certainly suggests that he did choose to let himself be killed after watching all of his ideals crumble.
Enemy Mine: He and Bartimaeus have cooperated in the past (Bartimaeus mentions an incident when they snuck poisoned grapes into Genghis Khan's tent to prove that he is in fact inhabiting John Mandrake).
Evil Chef: Faquarl's favorite form to appear in is the shape of a fat, friendly cook. However, the real reason he likes to hang out in kitchens because there are so many knives to choose from there.
Evil Counterpart: To Bartimaeus. The author even describes the relationship between the two as a friendship gone horribly wrong and that many similarities they share only magnify the enmity between them.
Faux Affably Evil: He's unfalteringly polite and civil, even when threatening death and destruction upon others.
Friendly Enemy: Possibly the most collected and well-mannered spirit, even while facing his worst enemies. He and Bartimaeus are good friends even standing on opposite sides of conflicts over and over again.
Genius Bruiser: He's explicitly of the intellectual type, yet he is also quite powerful for his djinni level.
He Who Fights Monsters: By the third book, he has become this, placing his desire for revenge on humanity for their ill-treatment of spirits above all else. By permanently stealing a magician's body and starting a violent spirit revolt, he becomes the very thing he resents. He comes to realize it, only too late.
Hero Killer: Though not as freakishly strong as Jabor, Faquarl usually comes out on top of his matches with Bartimaeus, completely eradicates the several djinn accompanying Bartimaeus on a mission, and can even pummel the Mercenary into submission.
Humanity Is Infectious: Bartimaeus notes that Faquarl's whole desire for revenge is a trait of humans, the very thing Faquarl hates most. The villain is dumbfounded by the implications.
I've Come Too Far: His last line states Bartimeus' and Nathaniel's discovery, namely that humans and djinns can work together, is a remarkable one, only that it's too late for him. It's implied he then lets them kill him.
Jack of All Stats: Out of the three main djinn, Bartimaeus is brainy, Jabor is brawny, and Faquarl is both. He's just as smart as Bartimaeus (while being much more vicious), and certainly surpasses him when it comes to scheming, and although he's not as physically strong as Jabor, he more than makes up for it with his skills with a cleaver. While Bartimaeus generally succeeds in outmaneuvering him, it's clear that he considers Faquarl the biggest threat on the table.
The Man Behind the Man: Faquarl manages to outplay Quentin Makepeace, who himself was the Man Behind the Man to the previous two Big Bads. He also acts as this for Nouda, who's much more powerful than him, but still serving Faquarl's goals.
Not So Stoic: He is perennially serene, until Bartimaeus reveals himself from within Nathaniel.
Pragmatic Villainy: When Bartimaeus finally asks him why he tends to hang out in kitchens, he admits it's because kitchens have easy access to a lot of sharp weapons.
Psycho Knife Nut: Downplayed. Faquarl can present himself as completely sane, but he's descended into Revenge Before Reason and his favorite weapon is a knife. His default form is that of a chef just so he can be near plenty of knives at any given time.
Revenge Before Reason: He orchestrates the demon revolution to make humanity suffer, even though it means forever cutting himself and his fellow revolutionaries off from the Other Place. Because they destroy the minds of the humans who summoned them as soon as they possess them, those humans aren't able to release their bond to the physical world. Faquarl even admits to Bartimaeus that he feels wrong being in a world so unlike his own, and once he learns that spirits and humans can work together after all, it's implied he lets himself be killed because he realized how much his useless revenge has cost him.
The Rival: He acts as this to Bartimaeus.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He makes no secret that he wants humanity to pay for enslaving him and his kind. In the third book he orchestrates the demon revolution to act on it.
Rock Monster: Bartimaeus remembers Faquarl's oldest form as a slate giant crushing Greek hoplites under its feet.
Villainous Breakdown: He has one when he confronts Nathaniel and Bartimaeus, who are mind-linked together, and realizes that neither of them has any dominance over another, destroying Faquarl's whole ideology. Although he tries to brush it off and attack them, he ultimately admits they were right and possibly lets them kill him.
Would Hurt a Child: Is perfectly willing to murder a child that stumbles upon him and Bartimaeus hiding out, even though the two are in human forms at the time and she wouldn't necessarily have been able to identify them as spirits.

Jabor

A monstrously strong djinni in service to Simon Lovelace, who's also a longtime enemy of Bartimaeus.

Axe-Crazy: He is barely controlled in his bloodlust.
Beast Man: His favored form is an Anubis-like jackalman, something that never varies and that kills him in the end.
Big Eater: Bartimaeus profiles him as being "always hungry".
Blood Knight: He doesn't seem to have any interests beyond eating, fighting and destroying.
The Brute: Monstrously strong, probably the single most powerful djinni in the series, but also an easily outsmarted moron who can't comprehend any strategy beyond destroying everything in his path.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Sucked into and then shredded by Ramuthra's rift. Even all his strength didn't avail him in the end.
Dumb Muscle: Described as "moronically strong to the point of indestructible".
Hero Killer: Jabor is a djinni but a much more powerful one than Bartimaeus, to the point where Bartimaeus's first instinct upon seeing him is to run. He's able to take on an army of horlas and utukku by himself and survive, a feat that Bartimaeus marvels at.
Leeroy Jenkins: Ostensibly, since he rushes into battle heedless of danger, but he comes out on top because he's just that strong. Bartimaeus manages to kill him by capitalizing on this, tricking him into going too close to Ramuthra's rift, ending with Jabor's essence being ripped apart.
No Indoor Voice: "COWARD! Always you run and sneak and hide. Stand and fight!"
One-Man Army: He takes on an entire army of horlas and assorted utukku and survives.
Unstoppable Rage: When he gets going, he lets nothing in front of him go unblasted, something which Bartimaeus repeatedly takes advantage of.

[[folder]]

[[folder:The scrying glass imp]]

Scrying glass imp

An unnamed imp that Nathaniel imprisoned to make a scrying glass.

Crystal Ball: He's imprisoned in a scrying glass that Nathaniel uses to spy on others.
The Imp: He's a literal imp and a malicious jackass prone to mouthing off to people much more powerful than him.
Jerkass: Granted, being incased in a scrying glass can't be fun, but it's amazing how little sympathy he can garner through dint of being just that much of an asshole to everyone he comes across.
No Name Given: He's never named, nor even given a nickname.
Older Than They Look: Given that his preferred form is that of a baby, it's a given.
Throw the Dog a Bone: After spending an entire trilogy trapped in Nathaniel's scrying glass, he finally gets his freedom near the end of the final book.

Simpkin

A foliot who works in Pinn's Accoutrements as a shop assistant and takes great pleasure in his servitude.

A Death in the Limelight: He gets exactly one chapter told from his perspective, which ends with his death.
Les Collaborateurs: A spirit who happily kowtows to the wishes of his human master and basks in the luxuries his station afford him.
Happiness in Slavery: Due to his cushy position and relative authority.
Meaningful Name: He's named "Simpkin" and "simps" for his master to the point of Undying Loyalty.
Senseless Sacrifice: He could easily have gotten away from the golem, but he makes his last stand fighting it instead, to try and save Pinn's shop. Given that the golem is far more powerful than he could ever hope to be, it accomplishes nothing save his own death.
The Quisling: He's a spirit who's become happy serving his human master and looks down on fellow spirits.
Undying Loyalty: To his master, Sholto Pinn, to the point of senselessly giving his life to attack an infinitely stronger creature from destroying his shop.

Queezle

A female djinni who's one of the few spirits Bartimaeus can call a friend.

Disposable Woman: She's killed to spur Bartimaeus into action against the Golem.
Dropped a Bridge on Her: She's murdered by the golem off-screen.
Killed Offscreen: She's killed off-screen by the golem after sending up a signal flare.
The Not-Love Interest: She is flirty around Bartimaeus and the two definitely have chemistry in this direction, but seem to be nothing more than comrades in arms. Possibly justified given that it is unknown whether spirits could even have this kind of relationship.
Old Friend: She's an old friend of Bartimaeus' from centuries back. One of the factors in getting him to fight the golem the first time is that Queezle was his friend and the golem killed her.
Sacrificial Lamb: She gets a few short scenes that establish her as an old friend of Bartimaeus before she's killed to establish how big a threat the golem is.
Species Equals Gender: Her default form is a cat, marking her as a female-presenting djinn.
Token Heroic Orc: While most spirits come across as amoral, Queezle has had a relatively charmed life when compared to most spirits. This means she comes across as less cynical and bitter, and more moral.
Unwanted Assistance: While facing a more powerful spirit during a battle in Prague, she tries to hype up Bartimaeus to their opponent. Unfortunately, her comments just make him sound worse.

Honorius

An afrit who served William Ewart Gladstone. Even after death Honorius was bound to his master's service, his essence bound to Gladstone's corpse to guard his possessions forever.

And I Must Scream: Until Kitty's gang came along, he was sealed inside Gladstone's body, permanently cut off from the Other Place. It did not help his state of mind.
Ax-Crazy: He is completely insane, which is not surprising, given he was buried alive, conscious, for centuries. And he was left with quite a few sharp implements to defend Gladstone's tomb with...
Cloudcuckoolander: A rare very dark example, frequently segueing straight into Ax-Crazy. The effect is even more pronounced in the audiobook version.
Co-Dragons: Along with Patterknife, Honorius was one of Gladstone's two personal servants when he was alive, to the point they were entrusted to lead his armies against Prague. Gladstone also entrusted him to guard his possessions forever by binding Honorius' essence into his own corpse.
Cool Mask: He wears Gladstone's golden death mask.
Dem Bones: As he was permanently locked in Gladstone's body he appears as an animated skeleton. Unlike a typical spirit guise, he's a real, physical skeleton.
Dub Name Change: The Spanish translation, for some reason and in the only case in the entire series, also translated his name, turning it into Honorio.
Early-Bird Cameo: Gets mentioned in Bartimaeus's flashback at the start of the book, as one of Gladstone's two personal servants who led the British army's assault on Prague.
Laughing Mad: He frequently chuckles and giggles mid-speech, demonstrating he's completely insane.
Psychopathic Manchild: Enjoys quoting nursery rhymes even as he's busy killing off the entire Resistance.
Suicide by Cop: Bartimaeus speculates Honorius attacked the Golem to with the intent of dying because he was tired of his torturous existence.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His possessing Gladstone's body gave Makepeace the idea to try summoning spirits into living human bodies to gain their power. Instead, the spirits who possessed humans destroyed their masters' minds and started the Spirit Rebellion.

Unnamed afrit

Gladstone's unnamed afrit

An afrit who served Gladstone. He assaults the Czech emperor's castle and causes his death and Bartimaeus's accidental survival. Might be the mentioned afrit called Patterknife.

Affably Evil: "Evil" by virtue of being an antagonist to Bartimaeus's allegiances, but also very well spoken.
Ambiguous Situation: He's strongly implied to be Patterknife, the afrit mentioned to lead the British army along with Honorius in the same chapter, especially given that he even wields a weapon that would make a pun with his name. However, he doesn't introduce himself and the other characters don't seem to recognize him.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: His human form at the Prague battlefield is a blond Roman ephebus with its proper attire, which Bartimaeus notes is a weird choice even by djinni standards. However, when he meets the retinue, it's soon clear why he was chosen for that mission — he outmatches them all.
Curb-Stomp Battle: To Bartimaeus and the rest of the court.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Apparently invoked with his human form, but despite being quite polite and professional, he's still unmistakably ruthless.
No Name Given: Has no introduction and his name is never mentioned. That said, it's informed that Gladstone's army is led by Honorius and Patterknife; as we later get to meet Honorius and he's clearly a different entity, this afrit might very well be Patterknife, which could even be a Meaningful Name related to his scythe. The official wiki of the trilogy follows this interpretation.
Sinister Scythe: Wields a silver scythe which he uses with quite some skill.

Ammet

A marid in the service of Khaba the Cruel.

And I Must Scream: Ammet is last seen being imprisoned by Uraziel, the spirit of Solomon's Ring, into a small wine flask for who knows how long.
The Dragon: He's the right-hand man to Khaba the Cruel, and as a marid he is much more powerful than his boss.
Foil: Explicitly designed as one to Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus came to love a Master who treated him like an equal and loved him in turn. Ammet did as well, but the man he came to love is a very evil one. The ultimate irony is when Bartimaeus meets him, he thinks he's disgusting and pathetic. Not for loving Khaba, but for loving his master.
Happiness in Slavery: He has no desire whatsoever to leave his servitude.
Interspecies Romance: His relationship with Khaba borders on this, to say the very least.
Living Shadow: He takes the form of Khaba's shadow, with the giveaway sign of always being long, dark and directly behind him, no matter the time of day.
Skilled, but Naive: As a marid, he's pretty close to the apex of spirits that normal magical society sees, but that very same power means he's confident a mere djinn couldn't possibly be a threat to him. Consequently, the much more wily Bartimaeus is able to easily lure him into an obvious trap and impale him with a tree.
Softspoken Sadist: He speaks in a barely audible whisper, and is fond of torturing other spirits and subjecting them to unspeakable fates.
Stockholm Syndrome: One interpretation of his Undying Loyalty. Although it's possible he was always a Sadist who shared Khaba's taste for wanton cruelty.
Summon Bigger Fish: Bartimaeus defeats him by wearing the Ring of Solomon and getting the greater spirit inside to deal with Ammet for him.
Villainous Friendship: His relationship with Khaba is closer to this than the standard master/slave relationship.
Villain Respect: Near the end of his chase with Bartimaeus, he admits that "five djinn together" couldn't have put up a better fight and promises to grant a quick death so long as he immediately hands over Solomon's Ring. Unfortunately for him, Bartimaeus manages to Take a Third Option.

Nouda

Nouda the Terrible

A greater spirit who is only rarely summoned to Earth because his power is too great to control. He takes possession of Quentin Makepeace's body and becomes the commander of the Spirit Rebellion.

Big Bad: In book 3, he's the most powerful enemy and the ostensible leader of the demon revolution.Makepeace drives most of the plot, while Faquarl is evidently the brains of the operation, but Nouda's raw power means he's the one who his fellow spirit revolutionaries obey.
Big Eater: What he doesn't destroy or enslave, he eats, and it pretty much doesn't matter what - spirit, human, inanimate object, all goes straight into one of his many maws. This leads to his downfall: the human he commandeered loses cohesion, leaving him vulnerable to a sufficient quantity of iron.
The Dreaded: Considered the most feared and dangerous spirit ever summoned to Earth with any regularity.
Eldritch Abomination: He's the real deal, easily surpassing even marids. Even the most powerful artifacts, such as Gladstone's staff are a No-Sell.
Evil Overlord: He commands the Spirit Rebellion.
Heroic RRoD: His devouring causes Makepeace's body to start falling apart and distorting, causing Nouda immense pain.
He Who Fights Monsters: He seeks vengeance against the magicians for millennia of enslavement, but his plans will result in the death and suffering of all humans, not just magicians and their allies.
Humanoid Abomination: When he possesses Makepeace's body, he makes the body act in ways that are simply inhuman despite outwardly looking like one.
I Gave My Word: He's so pleased to start his Spirit Rebellion that he offers "even the most meager of spirits" (in this case, Bartimaeus) a boon. When Bartimaeus asks that he spare Nathaniel and Kitty, Nouda is disgusted at his affection for humans, but since he'd already given his word, imprisons them instead. At least initially, he later tries to get Nathaniel to summon a spirit into himself which would effectively destroy his mind, keeping his body alive in an Exact Words kind of sense.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: "Nouda the Terrible".
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Set loose on London, mass casualties immediately ensue.
To Serve Man: He's a spirit possessing a human who begins devouring humans left and right.

Ramuthra

A greater spirit of such power that its very presence warps reality and causes the elements to rebel.

Ambiguous Gender: Unlike Nouda, Ramuthra is simply referred to as "it" and has no form to suggest whether it is male or female.
The Dog Bites Back: Lovelace summoned Ramuthra to kill all of his enemies in one place. Once Lovelace loses his immunity to the being's powers, Ramuthra promptly eats him.
Eldritch Abomination: A step above Nouda on this scale - its mere presence causes the elements to rebel against each other and reality to warp.
Nothing Is Scarier: Ramuthra's form itself is never seen, even although it is implied it has one. It is only visible for the warping it causes in the air surrounding it.
Punch-Clock Villain: It harbors no ill will towards anyone, simply following orders until it is freed, at which point it immediately leaves.
Reality Warper: Simply summoning it causes reality to distort around it.
The Quiet One: Has a single line in the story, to reply to Lovelace it cannot follow one of his orders.
The Unfought: It's sent away by breaking his summoning spell. Justified because it's so freakishly powerful.

Uraziel

Uraziel the Great

The spirit of Solomon's Ring. By far the most powerful being seen in the series, eclipsing even Ramuthra and Nouda with ease.

Cast from Hit Points: His immense power has this effect on anyone who wears the ring.
Catchphrase: "IT IS DONE."
Cosmic Entity: The closest thing to an Outer God the series has.
Lost Superweapon: An unknown pre-Sumerian civilization confined him in the ring... somehow. The user prior to Solomon was bound in chains and then bricked up in a deep vault: Solomon found it centuries later by mere chance.
The Omnipotent: He can't use his power unless the ring is turned, and he can't free himself from it. Aside from this, his power seems to have no limits at all.
Power at a Price: The wearer of the ring can have almost anything done in seconds. But even touching the ring brings blazing pain, wearing it is constant agony, and calling him forth from it ages the wielder. Bartimaeus seems confident that a spirit attempting to wield it would be struck Deader than Dead.
Reality Warper: What he is commanded to do becomes real.
Story-Breaker Power: He breaks the series' long established rules of magic without difficulty.
Summon Bigger Fish: Turning Solomon's Ring will summon him. And he himself is capable of summoning tens of thousands of spirits in an instant. It's implied in Bartimaeus's narration that Uraziel can do this because he is essentially a sentient portal to the Other Place.
Wicked Cultured: Eldritch Abomination tricks are simply beneath him, he is quite calm and well-spoken, and for all his power, he speaks to Solomon like he is an equal.

Magicians

Rupert Devereaux

The British Prime Minister of the Magician's Empire.

Bread and Circuses: By the third book, Devereaux's neglecting the problems eating away at his empire, and instead spends most of his time throwing elaborate parties and forcing his subordinates to attend the bad theatre plays he likes.
Broken Pedestal: When Nathaniel first sees him, he reveres Devereaux for his charisma and eloquence. By the time of The Golem's Eye he begins to become disillusioned with Devereaux's increasing paranoia and decadence, and in Ptolemy’s Gate Nathaniel's pretty much lost all respect for the man. Though he still does feel a pang of sympathy on seeing his boyhood hero used as another meat puppet by a demon.
Demonic Possession: He allows a demon to possess his body out of cowardice, destroying his mind in the process.
Dirty Coward: Nathaniel finds him cowering following Ramuthra's attack and he actually flinches at the young boy's approach. By the time of the third book, he's become so cowardly that he allows a demon to possess his body and destroy his mind even though he'd die whether he agreed or not.
Formerly Fit: By the second book, Devereaux's gone to seed, indulging in sweetmeats, and he's noted as even fatter in the third book.
Klingon Promotion: Not him personally, but he became Prime Minister after his master murdered the former Prime Minister.
Odd Friendship: His best friend is the playwright, Quentin Makepeace. Unfortunately for Devereaux, Makepeace's friendship isn't as genuine as he believed.
I Owe You My Life: After saving his life, and the majority of his government, in the Lovelace Conspiracy, Devereaux grants Nathaniel an apprenticeship with the Minister of Security, Jessica Whitwell.
The Paranoiac: Considering two of his senior Ministers tried to overthrow him in the past five years and the Resistance tried assassinating him, it's not surprising that Devereaux begins growing paranoid to the point of near mental breakdown. He's too scared to leave his residence most of the time, made himself de factor Police Chief, and kills anyone who speaks against him.
Pet the Dog: A minor one, but he actually allows Nathaniel to speak in his own defense and gives him another chance to prove his loyalty after Duvall framed him as a traitor and planned on torturing him.
President Evil: Not that he starts off as the nicest guy. He's introduced talking about implementing draconian measures to keep commoners in their place, but by the time of the final book he's a paranoid wreck who murders anyone who speaks against him and is allowing his empire to fall to ruin.
Sanity Slippage: He starts off as an eloquent and charismatic leader, but the repeated attempts on his life take a toll on his sanity, rendering him mentally unstable and paranoid.

Arthur Underwood

Nathaniel's first master, a cruel man with mediocre talent.

Abusive Parents: Though not Nathaniel's father, he is still his master and guardian. Arthur Underwood shows absolutely no love for Nathaniel, treats him more like an animal than a person, makes him the victim of his Hair-Trigger Temper many times, and outright considers killing him.
Apothecary Alligator: An item in his study.
Asshole Victim: He ends up getting killed by Simon Lovelace, but considering he'd just tried to pathetically sell out his own apprentice, it's hard to imagine many tears were shed at his death.
Beleaguered Bureaucrat: He constantly whines of having no power and regularly notes that his department is terribly understaffed. He's also right about both, but this is because he only possesses just enough magical talent to get by and therefore is easily trampled upon.
Broken Pedestal: To Nathaniel, who at least respected him prior to the incident with Lovelace.
Captain Oblivious: He's completely oblivious to the fact that Nathaniel absolutely loathes him after the incident with Lovelace, and has no idea how far Nathaniel is advancing his studies without him. Even when Nathaniel inadvertently reveals a greater knowledge of magic than he's supposed to have (during the attack on Parliament), it flies completely over his head.
Dirty Coward: Tried to sacrifice his apprentice to save his sorry, supplicant hide.
Disproportionate Retribution:
- When he catches Nathaniel with summoning equipment in his room, he seems to be considering killing him on the spot, and only doesn't do so because "his judgment would be called into question."
- He also rather fondly recites the story of Disraeli turning his apprentice to stone for accidentally knocking him over, and threatens to do the same to Nathaniel (who doubts Underwood could use that spell, though).
Fair-Weather Mentor: Underwood is willing to show-off Nathaniel so long as it makes him look good, but will sacrifice him in a heartbeat if it means preserving his own life, or even his own dignity.
Flat Character: Unless one assumes his resentment about his lack of power is the root of all of his character, which would still be a fairly lame Freudian Excuse, he is just a petty, amoral bastard. He doesn't even seem to treat his loving wife especially well.
Grumpy Old Man: He feels passed-over and put-upon, and he's beyond the age where he could realistically hope to work his way up.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Underwood has a very short temper and is very easy to anger. Nathaniel knows this better than anyone.
Hated by All: With the exception of his own wife, there is not one single character who likes this guy. Even Lovelace, who uses people as a matter of course, finds Underwood a bit disgusting for being willing to sacrifice Nathaniel.
Hate Sink: From the get-go, it is clear that the reader is not meant to root for Arthur Underwood. He is a cruel, selfish, arrogant, and abusive man. How Martha Underwood, a kind and loving woman, ended up married to him, is anyone's guess.
- He is a Jerkass and an Abusive Parent figure to Nathaniel.
- Has a Hair-Trigger Temper who tends to punish Nathaniel for the slightest offense and treats him more like an animal instead of a person.
- Fired Ms. Lutyens for trying to defend Nathaniel after being humiliated and attacked by Simon Lovelace, claiming it was "insolence and impertinence". Instead of defending his apprentice from Lovelace, Arthur blames Nathaniel for what happened and locks him away in his room for a month.
- He's a Dirty Coward who attempted to sacrifice Nathaniel in the hope of saving his own life.
It's All About Me: He's concerned purely with his own career, and only keeps Nathaniel around as long as he does because it benefits him - after all, if Nathaniel does well, that gives Underwood something to boast about.
Jerkass: Let's just say he's a lot meaner than the Wizard Classic he likes to pretend he is.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: His last act in life was to try to save himself by sacrificing his apprentice's life.
No Accounting for Taste: What his kind and friendly wife saw in him is anyone's guess.
Paper Tiger: He pretends to be powerful and respected, but he's a mediocre fool who's quick to cringe and toady when up against more dangerous and influential magicians like Lovelace.
The Paranoiac: His Fatal Flaw, or at least the final one. Arthur suffers from paranoia, shown when he accuses Nathaniel of spying on him. Nathaniel tries to defend himself, but Arthur refuses to listen and is convinced that he is a traitor.
Small Name, Big Ego: Arthur Underwood thinks very highly of himself and believes that he is a powerful magician to be feared. In reality, he is a Dirty Coward who thinks far too highly of himself.
Underestimating Badassery: In spite of increasing evidence that Nathaniel's involved in summoning Bartimaeus, Underwood refuses to believe it until Nathaniel outright confesses.
Wizard Classic: Strives to maintain the traditional "bushy beard and eyebrows" look. Bartimaeus notes that by the time the novel is set, this is a good indication he's a second-rate poser trying to big himself up (and he's absolutely right).

Simon Lovelace

The junior Minister for Trade in the British Government, he's a powerful magician and one Nathaniel has a strong grudge against.

Archenemy: Though he dies in the first book, Lovelace remains Nathaniel's most personal enemy and his shadow hangs over the series as Nathaniel grows up to be more and more like him.
Big Bad: He's the main antagonist of the first book, The Amulet of Samarkand.
Dirty Coward: He proves himself no different from Underwood in the end, when he dies in a similar manner: begging for his own life while trying to convince his killer to murder someone close to him instead.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Unlike most master-apprentice pairings among magicians, Schyler and Lovelace actually seem to care about each other like a father and son. They correspond regularly, Schyler manages to hold an unnerved Lovelace together to proceed with their coup, and even refers to him as "my boy." Tellingly, when Nathaniel reveals he killed Schyler, Lovelace is perturbed and disbelieving where most magicians would have callously disregarded the news.
- It's suggested he began to feel genuine affection for Amanda Cathcart, whom he was seducing and manipulating for his grand plan, and regretted sacrificing her as part of his plan. Subverted later when Amanda confronts him during Ramuthra's rampage, while Lovelace does express some guilt, he then immediately tries to get Ramuthra to kill her when the choice is between his life and her own. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't Amanda, only Bartimaeus impersonating her.
- As demonstrated by him offering We Can Rule Together to Nathaniel and even trying to spare him by leaving him with his master rather than placing him in the pentacle room, he came to genuinely respect the boy's ambition and hard work and considered them two birds of a feather.
Even Evil Has Standards: He's disgusted by Underwood trying to sacrifice his own apprentice. Not that it stops him from going through with trying to kill Nathaniel anyway.
Evil Counterpart: As Nathaniel grows up and becomes more powerful and ruthless, Lovelace essentially becomes the embodiment of what he'll become if he completely casts aside his moral compass in the name of ambition.
Evil Is Not a Toy: Ramuthra is a greater spirit so powerful, it can barely be controlled, but Lovelace attempts to use it to wipe out the British Government's leadership anyway, resulting in his own death at the creature's hands when his protection's taken away.
Hoist by His Own Petard: He is destroyed by the very spirit he summoned to destroy all his opposition in the government.
Kick the Dog: After he's called a sore loser by Nathaniel for dismissing Nathaniel's successful answers to his advanced questions, Lovelace uses a spirit to choke and threaten him. He then has a spirit beat Nathaniel into unconsciousness when the boy tries to retaliate by releasing demonic mites to sting him.
"Not So Different" Remark: As Nathaniel gets older, Bartimaeus notes that he's picking up a lot of Lovelace's less desirable traits.
Smug Snake: The first in a long line of them. Lovelace, at least, is a powerful and competent magician with a genuinely clever plan to usurp leadership of the government. However, he’s also proven to be a petty, arrogant coward.
Villain Ball: Humiliating a kid in public purely For the Lulz didn't really work out for him in the long run.
Villainous Breakdown: After Nathaniel steals the amulet he loses his cool, trying to sacrifice his lover to Ramuthra to save his own life. When his "lover" turns out to be Bartimaeus in disguise and steals his summoning horn, Lovelace just completely shuts down mentally, making a half-hearted attempt to get his possessions back before Ramuthra kills him.
Villainous Friendship: With his co-conspirator, Rufus Lime, and his master, Maurice Schyler.
We Can Rule Together: He makes the offer to Nathaniel near the end of the first book, having become impressed by the boy's ability and resourcefulness.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: He seems to have this relationship with his own master, Schyler, who he views as a father-figure.
You Killed My Father: Nathaniel becomes determined to see him suffer after Lovelace ordered Jabor to kill Martha Underwood, the woman who was like a mother to Nathaniel.

Quentin Makepeace

Despite being a quirky playwright, Makepeace is best friends with the Prime Minister.

Affably Evil: He keeps his friendliness up even when revealing his plans to overthrow the government and summon an Eldritch Abomination into his own body.
Beneath Suspicion: Who would ever suspect a quirky playwright as the mastermind of multiple attempted coups?
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He's not quite as friendly as he seems.
Big Bad: Arguably one for the entire series. He was The Man Behind the Man for the first two books and makes his own power play in the third one, only to be usurped by Faquarl and Nouda.
Big Bad Friend: Turns out the seemingly kindly playwright who's best friends with the Prime Minister and an ally of Nathaniel, is really the evil mastermind behind most of the series events.
Big Bad Wannabe: An unusual example. In the first two books he's The Man Behind the Man to the two Big Bads, yet when he tries to step into the spotlight and enact his own plot in the third book, he's quickly manipulated and killed by Faquarl, who is pretending to be his Number Two Hopkins.
Chekhov's Gunman: He's mentioned in the first book by a few characters but only becomes prominent in the second where he becomes Nathaniel's ally. He's also seen briefly in disguise retreating from Lovelace's manor before the climax of the first book, having helped construct the massive summoning circle to contain Ramuthra.
The Chessmaster: He's a competent schemer in all three books, but he gets Out-Gambitted in the third.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Nathaniel initially dismisses Makepeace as a worthless loon, just a playwright who didn't know his source material. He has his doubts by the third book, which are not entirely unfounded.
Demonic Possession: Once he summons Nouda into himself, his mind is destroyed and his body is used as a meat puppet by the demon.
Evil Is Not a Toy: Turns out summoning a borderline Eldritch Abomination into yourself to gain its power, wasn’t the brightest move on his part.
Eviler than Thou: Unfortunately for Makepeace, he ended up on the wrong side of this equation when trying to control Faquarl and Nouda.
Evil Redhead: He wore a red beard and hairpiece when meeting with Lovelace as the fourth conspirator.
False Friend: He's said to be the Prime Minister's best friend, and starting in The Golem's Eye, he becomes a friend and ally to Nathaniel as well. In reality, he's been plotting to usurp the Prime Minister for years, and he only views Nathaniel as a possible ally.
Fat Bastard: He's described as rotund, and he's one of the main villains of the series.
Faux Affably Evil: He's a very cold-blooded individual in truth, but he never drops his chummy and theatrical mannerisms even as he merrily talks with those he plans on killing.
Karmic Death: He dreams of ultimate power. His body gets it, along with a plethora of Body Horror: his personality is annihilated to make room for the body's new owner.
Large Ham: Goes with being a play writer, Nathaniel and Kitty even notice his theatrical flourishes in their narration.
The Man Behind the Man: He was a coconspirator in the Lovelace Conspiracy and the mastermind of the Golem Affair.
Oh, Crap!: There's a glorious moment where he realizes how screwed he is several seconds before Nouda crushes his mind like a grape and assumes total control of him.
Smug Snake: Unlike other magicians he's fairly powerful and a competent planner, but in the end he displays the same arrogance all other magicians fall prey to and it ends up being his undoing.
Unwitting Pawn: As soon as Faquarl possessed Clem Hopkins, he destroyed his mind and impersonated him flawlessly to maneuver Makepeace into summoning other spirits into his fellow magicians. This ends in Makepeace's own death and kick starts the Spirit Rebellion.
Walking Spoiler: As can be seen by all the spoiled entries, knowing too much about him reveals he's The Man Behind the Man for the villains in the previous two books, and his own coup involving Demonic Possession to empower himself and his followers results in the Spirit Rebellion.
We Can Rule Together: He makes the offer to Nathaniel to join his coup in the third book. Nathaniel plays along but only to try to summon Bartimaeus to kill the conspirators. Unfortunately, Bartimaeus isn't in the best of shape when he's summoned.

Jessica Whitwell

The Minister for Security and Nathaniel's second master following the Lovelace Conspiracy.

Defiant to the End: Unlike the other magicians who allow spirits to possess their bodies, Whitwell shows no fear of her demonic captors and tries one last attack to escape rather than allow her body to be used as another puppet.
Fairweather Mentor: Just because she's more competent and dignified than Underwood doesn't mean that she's any less willing to throw her apprentice under the bus if it's convenient for her. She took Nathaniel in because of his popularity after the Lovelace Conspiracy, but is willing to leave him to his fate when Duvall tries to frame him as a traitor, and then tries to take credit for Nathaniel's success when he reveals the one controlling the golem.
Interservice Rivalry: As the Minister of Security and head of Internal Affairs, she has a staunch rivalry with the Chief of Police, Henry Duvall. The two of them compete against each other to solve the Golem Affair and destroy the Resistance to gain esteem in the eyes of the Prime Minister.
Jerkass: Whitwell is a singularly unpleasant person, to spirits, commoners and even her own apprentice.
Lean and Mean: She's a cold woman who looks almost skeletal. When she first appears, she's accompanying Sholto Pinn, whose bulky build makes her seem even thinner in comparison.
Never Mess with Granny: Though she's not the friendliest person to be around, she's an incredibly powerful magician. Even Bartimaeus hesitates in mouthing off to her.
Sherlock Scan: When questioning Bartimaeus in the first book, she takes note of him instinctively transforming into an Egyptian cat at a sign of danger and deduces from there that he's a spirit with a long career, even if at that point she doesn't know exactly which spirit he is.

Henry Duvall

A werewolf, Chief of Police and a major political player in the British Government.

Better to Die than Be Killed: Duvall commits suicide off-screen rather than face torture, imprisonment and execution.
Big Bad Wannabe: As the one controlling the Golem, he's the main antagonist of the second book. However, it's revealed in the third book that he was another unknowing pawn of Quentin Makepeace.
Dirty Cop: The Chief of Police and leader of the Night Police, he's also a treasonous thug.
Driven to Suicide: After being captured he transforms into a werewolf and jumps out a window to his death.
Dumb Muscle: He's poweful in many senses by being the Chief of Police, a well-connected politician and a werewolf, but he's noted to be basically an angry meathead when compared to the Machiavellian other ministers. Also, although he controls the Golem, it's never stated or implied that he has any real talent as a magician, or whether he is a magician to begin with.
Evil Mentor: He serves as one to Jane Farrar.
Interservice Rivalry: As the Chief of Police, he's rivals with the Minister of Security, Jessica Whitwell, who heads Internal Affairs. Both of them compete to solve the Golem Affair and end the Resistance.
Our Werewolves Are Different: All Night Police are werewolves and he's not the exception, although never transforms onscreen.
Smug Snake: He's very arrogant and self-assured, but he completely shuts down mentally after his treason is exposed, and it turns out he was being manipulated the entire time by Quentin Makepeace.
State Sec: The Night Police report directly to the Prime Minister.
Torture Technician: He offhandedly mentions a few tortures he plans on using on Nathaniel after framing him as a traitor.
Unwitting Pawn: Duvall was just another pawn who was used and discarded by Quentin Makepeace.
Villainous Breakdown: After he's revealed to be the golem's master, he's too stunned by his plans crashing down around him to put up any resistance to his imprisonment. He later commits suicide off-screen.

Jane Farrar

Initially the Assistant to the Chief of Police, she's both a rival and love interest to Nathaniel.

Ambiguous Situation: Might or might not be a werewolf.
Bastard Understudy: It seems to be common among magician-apprentice pairings, as she was tutored by the smug and brutish Henry Duvall.
Dating Catwoman: She and Nathaniel are rivals but by the time of the third book it seems they have a mutual attraction to one another. That sours when Jane sees Nathaniel cares about his djinni's life more than he does extracting info from him.
Dirty Cop: Not in the traditional sense, as she becomes de facto Chief of Police in Ptolemy’s Gate, but it's clear gaining power and influence is much more important to her than enforcing the law.
The Dragon: She's the right-hand woman of Henry Duvall.
Femme Fatale: She tries to be one in the second book, using a glamour to try to seduce information out of Nathaniel. She's become much more capable at it in the third.
Our Werewolves Are Different: As she's part of the Night Police, Nathaniel wonders if she is one. Although he concludes she doesn't fit the type, it is left actually ambiguous.
The Rival: She served as one to Nathaniel, mirroring the rivalry between their respective masters, Duvall and Whitwell.
Smug Snake: It's practically common practice for magicians to be selfish, arrogant and power-hungry, and Farrar is no slouch in any of those departments.
Uncertain Doom: She's last seen trying to rally the Night Police against the spirits rampaging in London, but after the attack she can't be found and is presumed dead.
Ungrateful Bastard: Even after Kitty helps free her and other magicians, she still treats her like garbage for being a commoner.
Unwitting Pawn: She genuinely had no idea what her master was up to in The Golem's Eye. She was exonerated offscreen after being arrested with him and seemingly made it back into the government unscathed.

Sholto Pinn

The owner of Pinn's Accoutrements, a popular shop and supplier of magical artifacts in London.

Almighty Janitor: Is a high-level magician and surely well-connected, but oddly enough, he seemingly prefers to hold a first line job in his company and do almost everything himself, to the point we only see a low-level spirit and barely any employees of his.
Ambiguously Evil: Since he is shown as an acquaintance to Lovelace and Schyler and is the one who sold them the summoning horn, yet is conspicuously missing from their coup attempt, it remains unclear if Sholto was involved with their conspiracy. Nathaniel himself doesn't act as if he harbored suspicions that he was. However, by the trilogy's end, it appears Pinn was at least unaware of Makepeace's involvement in Lovelace's plan, and isn't involved wither in the coup attempted orchestrated by Makepeace himself.
Break the Haughty: The Golem's attack on his store, as well as the war cutting off trade, causes his finances to take a hit.
Fat Bastard: He's an overweight and Ambiguously Evil magician. Though it turns out he's not an actual villain, he's still a Jerkass.
High-Class Glass: Uses a magic monocle instead of the more usual magic contact lenses wore by the magicians.
Informed Ability:
- He's stated to be very powerful, at least enough to hang out with Lovelace and Schyler, and they clearly respect him, something not many can boast of. However, he's easily bested by Bartimaeus, and the extent of his spirit aides is seemingly a single foliot, just like Underwood of all people. Even later, when he becomes the only magician who puts a fight against Makepeace's spirits, it is only by complete chance (Pinn was the only magician to realize the danger in time because he didn't remove his magic monocle, since the instructions for the show were only to remove lenses).
- Pinn's Accoutrements is said to be a very hefty franchise, and Sholto himself proves it by dressing like a vaudeville millionaire, but all we see of it is a single shop in which he himself works as a shopkeeper and which gets him into economic hardship after being destroyed.
Magic Staff: His cane can fire energy shots.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gets one courtesy of a spirit working for Makepeace. The survivors get him some medical attention, but it's never revealed how extensive his injuries were.
Powers Do the Fighting: A notable inversion. Every time he's seen fighting, he does it by himself with a magic cane instead of resorting to spirits like any other magician of the series. Whether this is by choice or lack of skill at summoning is never cleared.
Riches to Rags: The destruction of his flagship store and the cutoff of trade causes him to become much poorer.
Villain in a White Suit: Downplayed; he's an Ambiguously Evil jerk who prefers to wear white suits.

Maurice Schyler

The elderly master of Simon Lovelace.

Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Unlike many master-apprentice pairings among magicians, Schyler and Lovelace actually seem to care about each other like a father and son. They correspond regularly, Schyler manages to hold an unnerved Lovelace together in order to proceed with their coup, and even refers to him as "my boy."
Evil Mentor: He was this to Simon Lovelace, whom he raised as his apprentice.
Evil Old Folks: An elderly man who has no compunction with murdering hundreds and torturing a child.
Genre Savvy: He relays Simon's offer of an apprenticeship to Nathaniel, but personally he'd rather kill him than have a possible threat hanging around.
Neck Snap: He dies when Nathaniel throws several Prague Cubes (the equivalent of magical firecrackers) at him, the detonation propelling him backward into a wall and breaking his neck.
Villain Respect: Acknowledges Nathaniel's talent when they first met, and also says he's full of knowledge.
We Can Rule Together: He tells Nathaniel that he could have a bright future if he joined the conspirators, as wiping out the government would leave a lot of empty chairs, and someone young and ambitious could very easily rise to the top eventually. Nathaniel gives it genuine consideration, but ultimately rejects it due to the fact they killed his surrogate mother. Schyler isn't surprised and comments that the offer was actually Lovelace's idea and he only said it as a courtesy, as he himself doubted Nathaniel would switch sides due to being soft and weak from his old master's influence.
Would Hurt a Child: In general, neither magicians nor spirits seem to hold any compunctions about harming children, but Schyler stands out as claiming he'd like to give Nathaniel a far more painful death if he wasn't so strapped for time.

Rufus Lime

A friend of Simon Lovelace and one of his fellow conspirators.

Animal Motif: He's frequently described as looking like a wet fish.
Back for the Finale: After being on the run following The Amulet of Samarkand, he returns to plot again in Ptolemy’s Gate.
Demonic Possession: One of many conspirators who summons a demon into himself to gain power, only to have his mind destroyed in the process and his body used as a puppet.
Villain: Exit, Stage Right: When Lovelace's coup fails, Lime hightails it out of the country and is only coaxed to return when Makepeace tells him about a new scheme he's working on.
Villainous Friendship: Rufus and Lovelace really were friends. When he encounters Nathaniel years after the Lovelace Conspiracy, the first thing Lime does is slap him across the face, saying it was for Simon.

Amanda Cathcart

A wealthy magician in a relationship with Simon Lovelace.

Honey Trap: A gender-inverted example. Simon Lovelace seduced her so he could use her in his attempted coup.
Informed Ability: Being a magician should grant her a competence she remarkably seems to lack. She never even uses magic onscreen.
Never Found the Body: She's stated as missing following Ramuthra's attack and presumed dead.
Unwitting Pawn: She was duped by Lovelace into using her estate to host a government function, only to have it be a trap to kill members of said government.

Julis Tallow

Julius Tallow

Nathaniel's superior in Internal Affairs, and a magician who has a past with Kitty.

Drives Like Crazy: According to himself, the baseball hitting his car's windscreen was enough to make him lose control and crash, which, although never commented upon, seems to paint him as rather crappy driver.
Eaten Alive: Devoured by a spirit he tried to summon after making an error in the summoning circle.
Evil Is Petty: He sends his djinni to disfigure two children for accidentally smashing his Rolls Royce's windscreen with a baseball and causing him to have a car accident.
Karmic Death: Incredibly so. One of the children he mutilated is the son of the owners of "Hyrnek and Sons," a printing press for magical tomes. Ever since he mutilated Jakob, the family has been deliberately making small errors in the books he orders, mistakes which can be deadly. The first time an error turns his skin yellow. The second, it ends with a spirit he summoned eating him alive.
Pointy-Haired Boss: He's Nathaniel's superior in Internal Affairs, but is pretty incompetent at his job and relies on Nathaniel to do most of his work for him.
Red Right Hand: He's a cruel magician with yellow skin as a result of a botched spell.
Would Hurt a Child: The very first thing we see him do is attack Kitty and Jakob with magic after they accidentally hit his car with a baseball.

Harold Button

A retired magician who Kitty works for as an assistant.

Absent-Minded Professor: He's a magician with a passion for studying and writing instead of making power plays, but he's lazy, unkempt and is polite but absentminded.
Almighty Janitor: He was able to summon a marid all by himself, a feat which Bartimaeus says usually requires at least two magicians working in tandem. It does break free of his control and bite his leg off, but you know, still a good show.
Foil: To Ptolemy and regular magicians. Unlike regular magicians who are interested in knowledge for power or greed, he's simply interested in knowledge like Ptolemy. Unlike Ptolemy, though, he's interested in it for its own sake rather than for a greater understanding between djinni and humans. Tellingly he's a midpoint between a standard magician and Ptolemy. While he's nowhere near as cruel as a standard magician is towards commoners, he still doesn't think much of them, and while he doesn't torture or punish spirits he also doesn't trust them.
For Science!: A non-nefarious example, as Button's really only interested in gathering knowledge out of a love of learning.
The Mentor: For Kitty, who he instructed on magical knowledge and summoning so she could help him in his pursuit of knowledge.
Noble Bigot: He doesn't quite see commoners as equal to magicians, but he still enjoys their company and is even willing to educate one on magic.
Token Good Teammate: One of the only magicians in the story who is a genuinely good person, if still arrogant and classist, instead of a scheming opportunist.

Ptolemy

Bartimaeus' most beloved master, one who wanted peace between demons and magicians, and was more interested in seeking knowledge than gaining power.

The Greatest Story Never Told: Bartimaeus' flashbacks reveal a bit about his relationship with Ptolemy in the third book, but it's still mostly unexplored.
Heroic Sacrifice: When demons were sent to kill him and escape looked unlikely, he decided to die alone and dismissed Bartimaeus—who was his last line of defense—rather than get his friend killed trying to protect him.
Morality Chain Beyond the Grave: Ptolemy's friendship was treasured by Bartimaeus. It invests him with a little more empathy and patience toward humans than most spirits have.
Posthumous Character: This is the ancient Egyptian Ptolemy we're talking about. He's not around anymore.
Restored My Faith in Humanity: A variant: he was the first human to really treat Bartimaeus as a person, and extend trust to him. Up until then, as The Ring of Solomon makes clear, Bartimaeus had no faith in humans at all.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: He is one of the most kind-hearted, friendly magicians ever shown in the series. He also dies very young, showing a good thing can never last long. His death and willingness to save Bartimaeus (who was willing to fight to the death for him) had a massive impact on Bartimaeus' character from then on.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Ptolemy had a scientific (as opposed to pragmatic) interest in spirits. He became determined to obtain justice for the spirits, to end the already ancient pattern of 'master and slave'. But he grew too interested in this long-term goal to pay attention to his personal safety.
Younger Than They Look: Once he gets back from the Other Place, anyway, his body aged while his spirit departed.

Khaba the Cruel

A powerful magician in service to King Solomon.

Bald of Evil: He shaves his head.
Big Bad: He's the main villain of The Ring of Solomon.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Two gouges run down over his cheekbones: they add to his air of menace.
Obviously Evil: "A cadaver would have crossed the street to avoid him".
Red Baron: He's called Khaba the Cruel and he definitely lives up to that title.
Torture Technician: His extremely creepy obsession with torturing the spirits under his control, often inflicting horrifying fates upon them with his Essence Cages.
The Starscream: He plots to overthrow Solomon if he can just get the Ring away from the king, and build his own empire. But so are his sixteen rivals, and Solomon is well aware that none of them are serving him out of altruism.
Villainous Friendship: Unlike most magician-spirit relationships, Khaba and his marid, Ammet, seem to have an actual friendship with each other. Ammet serves him out of genuine affection rather than fear.

King Solomon

A magician and the King of Jerusalem.

Blessed with Suck: He is the most powerful mortal in the world, but the source of his power is slowly killing him - and he can't find anybody else he'd trust with ultimate power.
Empowered Badass Normal: He's not a magician, but the Ring makes him essentially a Dimension Lord.
The Good King: He works to benefit the people. This naturally puts him at odds with his cadre of magicians.

The Resistance

Mr. Pennyfeather

Terence E. Pennyfeather

The elderly founder of the Resistance, and a relatively wealthy commoner bussinessman.

Anti-Villain: He's essentially a terrorist, but the government he's trying to overthrow is run by corrupt magicians who abuse and kill commoners on a whim. However, his crusade is beginning to turn him into the kind of person he fights against.
Crusading Widower: A magician took an interest in Pennyfeather's beloved wife and murdered her when she spurned his advances. Pennyfeather responded by tracking down the magician when he was alone and killing him, surviving magical attacks from three demons in the process.
Death Seeker: He fully intended to die trying to get revenge on the magician who murdered his wife. When he survived the ordeal and found out about his resilience to magic, he founded the Resistance to strike back against the magicians.
Feeling Their Age: As Pennyfeather got older. he began feeling his age and fear of dying without accomplishing any of his goals. The risky raid on Gladstone's crypt was one of his last chances to stick it to the magicians.
From Nobody to Nightmare: From a shop-owner who provided artists' supplies, to the leader of a terrorist organization.
Happily Married: He was once content in his status as a commoner as he shared his life with his beloved wife. Her death was his Start of Darkness.
He Who Fights Monsters: In his desperation to overthrow the magicians running the British Government, Pennyfeather grew to be more like them, launching attacks out of greed and cowardice rather than intent.
Jerkass: When Kitty first met him he was quite nice and charming, but his organization's lack of success in accomplishing their goals, the deaths or capture of fellow resistance fighters, and his own anger at his old age have made him a much more bitter man.
The Leader: He's the founder and leader of the Resistance.
"Not So Different" Remark: Bartimaeus highlights it, saying Pennyfeather's problem was that he became too much like the magicians.
Bartimaeus: Greedy, close, and clasping. Wanted to keep everything nice and secret, all for himself.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He went on one against the magician who murdered his wife, and actually survived magical attacks from three demons in the process.
Start of Darkness: His wife's murder at the hands of a magician whose advances she spurned.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wants to overthrow the magicians to stop their rampant abuse of commoners. Though in his later years his goals became more self-centered than altruistic.
Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Though he's a terrorist, the government he's fighting is corrupt and oppressive to commoners. Unfortunately, Pennyfeather has ended up becoming just like the magicians he fights against.

Hopkins

Clem Hopkins

A scholar with underworld connections who aids the Resistance.

Demonic Possession: He summons Faquarl into his body to get his power, only to have his mind destroyed and identity impersonated.
Evil Is Not a Toy: In trying to harness demonic power for himself, Hopkins becomes the first man to have his mind destroyed by the spirit he summoned into his body.
False Friend: He acted as a trusted ally to the Resistance while feeding information about them to Makepeace and using them for his own ends. He also pretended to be an ally to Henry Duvall to manipulate him into creating a golem.
Kill and Replace: After Faquarl possessed him, he destroyed Hopkins' mind and impersonated him until Makepeace got other magicians to try summoning spirits into themselves as well. It was easy given that Hopkins was a quiet, subdued guy.
Killed Offscreen: Technically Hopkins dies between the events of The Golem’s Eye and Ptolemy's Gate, and the person we see as Hopkins in the third book is just Faquarl using his body as a puppet.
Lack of Empathy: Kitty figures out just what an untrustworthy ally he is when he shows more concern for the artifacts the Resistance failed to recover from Gladstone's crypt, than the fact that the entire Resistance was wiped out.
Manipulative Bastard: He successfully managed to trick the Resistance into thinking he was an ally for years, all while handing information about them over to Makepeace, and manipulating them for his boss's goals.
The Mole: He feeds Quentin Makepeace information on the Resistance's activities, to better influence them for their own advantage.
Non-Action Guy: Hopkins doesn't participate in Resistance attacks, as he doesn't have their immunity.
The Nondescript: Kitty describes him as someone so instantly forgettable, when she hears him speak, she subconsciously finds herself listening to the words but tuning him out.
Number Two: He's the right-hand man of Terence Pennyfeather. Except not really, he's actually this for Quentin Makepeace, and he was instrumental in carrying out the raid on Gladstone's crypt and the Golem Affair.
The Smart Guy: With his in-depth knowledge of magic and artifacts, he plays this role in the Resistance.
Uriah Gambit: Sending the Resistance to Gladstone's crypt was really just a ploy to get them all killed in the process of procuring him with the magical artifacts.
Walking Spoiler: Knowing too much about him spoils major parts of the second and third books.

Stanley

Stanley Hake

A fellow Resistance member who's often at odds with kitty. He can see auras and track magical objects.

The Friend Nobody Likes: No one in the Resistance actually seems to like Stanley. The only possible exception is Martin, who was friends with Stanley but died in a failed attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister.
Jerkass: Stanley's a rather unpleasant person.
Surprisingly Sudden Death: While digging through Gladstone's tomb, Stanley is silently murdered by Honorius without warning.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He and Kitty do not like each other and don't get along well at all.

Fred

Frederick Weaver

A teenaged member of the Resistance with a high-level of magical resilience and a penchant for throwing knives.

Anti-Magic: Fred has an especially high level of resilience to magic to the point where he can tank a bolt of magic from a ninth level afrit and keep fighting.
Beware the Quiet Ones: Fred doesn't talk much, but he can be surprisingly casual when it comes to violence and murder.
The Big Guy: He's the strongest member of the Resistance, to the point that he's the only one who can put up any meaningful resistance against Honorius. Granted, Honorius wasn't taking it very seriously and Fred's still killed in the end, but the fact that he could go toe-to-toe with a psychotic afrit as long as he did is impressive.
Blade Enthusiast: Fred likes knives a lot. He's an expert at throwing them, and even takes on Honorius with them.
By the Eyes of the Blind: He can see the through the magical illusions of demons and perceive their true forms.
Heroic Sacrifice: He buys time for the other members of the Resistance to escape while he stalls Honorius.
Nerves of Steel: Fred doesn't act noticeably scared even when confronted with a psychotic afrit.
The Quiet One: Fred's not exactly verbose.
Teens Are Monsters: He's a teenager who's part of a terrorist group and at one point nonchalantly asks Kitty if he should slit Nathaniel's throat when he knows nothing about the kid other than he's in the wrong place at the wrong time.
You Shall Not Pass!: Fred fights Honorius with his knives when the latter grabs a sword, dying in a bid to buy time for his friends to escape.

Anne

Anne Stephens

A middle-aged member of the Resistance.

By the Eyes of the Blind: She can see through magical illusions cast by and around demons.
Skewed Priorities: She remains concerned about losing some of their plunder from Gladstone's tomb even as the Resistance is being hunted down and killed by a psychotic spirit.

Nick

Nicholas Drew

A stocky Resistance member in his twenties.

Anti-Magic: He has a very strong resilience against magic.
Demonic Possession: He's caught by Makepeace and used as a lab rat to test the effects of spirits inhabiting human bodies.
Dirty Coward: When Honorius attacked the Resistance, he fled, letting his friends buy him time with their lives. He later sells out Kitty to Makepeace and Nathaniel, although at least this time he was being tortured by a spirit possessing him.
Sole Survivor: He and Kitty are the only survivors of the Resistance, though the last time he’s seen in the third book, it's strongly implied he won't survive much longer.
Uncertain Doom: He's last seen being driven mad by the spirit Makepeace summoned into his body. Nathaniel tells Makepeace to let him go, but given Makepeace's lack of ethics and the fact that spirits can destroy the minds of their hosts if not dismissed, it's highly likely he's dead.

Commoners

The Mercenary

Verroq, the Mercenary

A mysterious individual who finds himself on the opposing side of Nathaniel and Bartimaeus during the Lovelace Conspiracy, the Golem Affair and the Spirit Rebellion. Though a human, his high level of magical resilience makes him a formidable opponent.

Anti-Magic: Part of the reason he's the Implacable Man.
Beard of Evil: The toughest human opponent presented in the series: his beard is his most prominent feature.
By the Eyes of the Blind: His resilience is so strong he can see on all seven planes.
Les Collaborateurs: The Mercenary has no problem in aiding the demons in their war against humanity, just so long as he can profit from the bloodshed.
Died Standing Up: "Bones in black clothes."
The Dragon: Initially he appears to be this to Lovelace, but he reveals his primary employer has always been Makepeace.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He's only ever known as "The Mercenary" up until the third book where Quentin Makepeace calls him Verroq. However, it's only mentioned once then never again.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has some blurred scars on the back of his hands.
I Have You Now, My Pretty: He’s a middle-aged man who makes some very creepy overtures to the teenaged Kitty once she’s in his clutches.
Implacable Man: Even without his magical resistance, he's physically strong and surprisingly endurable. He manages to shake off getting a statue thrown on top of him and thrown down a mountainside without so much as a scratch.
Know When to Fold Them: He runs off after Lovelace's defeat in the first book. In the third, he quietly tries to sneak away when his employer, Makepeace, and his fellow conspirators end up killed and controlled by the demons they summoned into themselves. Unfortunately for him, Faquarl notices and beats him into submission.
Made of Iron: His degree of invulnerability varies, but seems to spike just after he shrugs off a magical attack.
Mysterious Mercenary Pursuer: He starts out as a complete unknown, but his mysterious "power" makes him notable. Little is ever learned about his past or his personality, though the scars on his hand implies he's from a similar order of assassins that tried to kill Ptolemy back in 125 B.C.
Only in It for the Money: He works for one villain after another, but he doesn't share any of their ideals, all he cares about is money.
Power Parasite: His resistance is so powerful that he not merely shrugs off magic - he absorbs it to a point, temporarily gaining superhuman strength and ability to withstand normal physical damage whenever he is exposed to a big magical attack. Faquarl notices and exploits this by attacking hand-to-hand, without using spells.
Professional Killer: He's a murderer for hire.
Psycho Knife Nut: A sinister Professional Killer, who carries a wide set of knifes, blades and shurikens.
Public Domain Artifact: He wears a pair of Seven League Boots which, well, allows him to travel seven leagues in one step.
The Quisling: Willingly aligns with Nouda and Faquarl in their Demon Rebellion in exchange for riches.
Redemption Rejection: Nathaniel offers him a chance to team up to defeat the demons before they can start their massacre. The Mercenary laughs off his suggestion, thinking their opponents are unstoppable, and that he'd rather have the wealth they offered instead.
Stripped to the Bone: He's finally killed when his magical resilience is exhausted and a Pestilence strips the flesh from his bones.

Martha Underwood

The kind and loving wife of Arthur Underwood.

Morality Pet: She acts as one to Nathaniel.
Multiple-Choice Past: Word of God says she was either a magician who gave up her training to marry Underwood, or she's from a commoner family who associates with magicians.
No Accounting for Taste: There is absolutely no indication what someone as kind and good-natured as her could see in her selfish Jerkass of a husband. That said, there are subtle hints that she's not entirely happy (for instance, Arthur has decayed flowers, Nathaniel has fresh ones).
Parental Substitute: After Nathaniel's parents essentially sell him to the government to become a magician, Martha acts as his mother figure, and she's infinitely more loving to Nathaniel than his birth parents were.
You Killed My Father: Or rather, she's the parental figure killed that Nathaniel seeks to avenge.

Miss Lutyens

Rosanna Lutyens

Nathaniel's art tutor, and one of the few people who shows him kindness.

Back for the Finale: She makes a brief appearance in the last book, and spurs Nathaniel's Heel Realization.

Characters / The Bartimaeus Trilogy

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